Voyaging Pasts, Pacific Futures: Kupe and A Waka Odyssey

This essay examines A Waka Odyssey, a series of integrated performances that were part of the 2018 New Zealand Festival (Te Taurima o Aotearoa), with a focus on the theatrical extravaganza Kupe. A Waka Odyssey drew on the trope of Aotearoa New Zealand as a nation of migrant voyagers to create a sense of belonging for and among Māori, Pākehā, Pasifika, and others within New Zealand's increasingly multicultural society. These performances show how centering New Zealand as a transpacific node enacts new ways of theorizing relationships between nation and region as well as between imperialism, indigeneity, migration, and diaspora.